Honoris Causa
An Examination of the Doctor of Philosophy Degree
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9013626 |
|---|---|
| Authors | R Andrew Lady (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1967 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 197-205 |
| Publication date | 1967-04-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Higher Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-1546 • E-ISSN: 1538-4640 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00221546.1967.11774704 |
| OpenAlex | W2314750219, W4242581914 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
IN THIS paper it is the intent of the author examine the life history of the Ph.D. degree honoris causa in the United States. Some evidence exists, it should be noted here, that other countries have engaged in the practice of conferring honorary degrees, not the least of which was Germany, the country usually credited with conceiving the earned Ph.D. degree. Daniel Coit Gilman reported as early as I867 the announcement that Bismarck [had] just been made a doctor of philosophy in one of the German universities.' Many of the eighty-five years between the birth of the Ph.D. honoris causa in I852 and its apparent demise in I937 were turbulent ones. To say that it seems have died a slow and lingering death is no exaggeration. In order give the reader proper perspective, pertinent references will be made not only the earned Ph.D. degree but other honorary doctoral degrees. Only passing mention can be made of honorary degrees awarded by mills. This practice is the subject of a substantial body of literature. Although no single government agency is charged with the responsibility for regulating institutions that grant fraudulent or worthless degrees, they have been a source of concern and irritation the Federal Trade Commission, the Post Office Department, the Attorney General's Office,2 and, more recently, the Veterans Administration. The practice of conferring bogus degrees has also been the subject of stories in various newspapers and magazines. In I950, Benjamine Fine, then education editor of the New York Times, claimed that there were at least one hundred out-and-out diploma mills granting unearned degrees and doing an annual business of $75,ooo,ooo.4 The subject also came up in Time, which reported the Senate Judiciary Committee's investigation of Francis Xavier Morrissey's qualifications for the federal bench in Boston. Morrissey obtained a law diploma from the now defunct Southern Law School. Senator Jenner labeled it a mill.5 The New Testament contains at least a half-dozen instances of the use of the Greek word didaskolos (from the verb didaskein, to teach) which reappears in the English word didactic.6 In Latin, the verb docere
Agency (philosophy · Degree (music · Demise · Government (linguistics · Humanities · Library science · Physics · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Law · Medieval Philosophy and Theology · Philosophy · Psychology · Research, Science, and Academia
| Citations per year | 0.29 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Highly cited | No |